clouds
by not a straight trumpet
Summary: Kumiko and Reina try (and fail, somewhat) to have a date.


**a/n:** you know that one part of the s2 pv where the tutti quartet is having popsicles? yeah

* * *

Kumiko had been the one to initiate the date, this time. She hadn't planned it quite as meticulously as Reina often planned hers - all she had was a heart full of teenage love and rudimentary knowledge of nearby bakeries - but it seemed to be enough for Reina, who politely stepped out of the door of her family's rather large house with a purse slung over her shoulder and a look of relief plain on her face. The two walked down the cobblestone steps, away from the house, and as soon as it was out of sight, Reina jumped into Kumiko's arms and planted a kiss firmly on her lips, letting out a laugh that Kumiko couldn't help but compare to that of a songbird. She regained her posture not five seconds later, dusting off her skirt and standing back down.

"I apologize for that," she said, though there was nothing bashful in her voice. "I've been practicing for quite a while, so it was a relief to see you after all of that. Things become pent up, you know." Kumiko thought back to the time she had heard Reina scream on top of a hill at the school, and she knew.

"Y-yeah," she mumbled. "I get what you mean."

"In any case, where are we going? You didn't ask me to meet you at any particular place, is this a surprise?" Kumiko shrugged.

"I guess. If you want the truth, I don't really . . . know where we're going . . . heh." She scratched the back of her neck, suddenly feeling rather awkward. Here was this incredible girl in front of her, who had done so much for the both of them and always had things planned to the letter, and then here was Kumiko, walking aimlessly along the polished sidewalk away from Reina's house with no idea as to what to do.

"That's not a problem," Reina replied, seeming to notice Kumiko's uncertainty. It was unnerving, the way she always seemed to know what was on Kumiko's mind. More than once, she had wondered if Reina was secretly a mind-reader, but she always tried to push that particular idea away as fast as she could. She tried to do that most of the time, anyway.

"How do you always know what I'm thinking?" Kumiko blurted out, covering her mouth with her hands as soon as the words escaped, a deep feeling of shame washing over her. Reina tilted her head. "S-sorry!"

"We've known each other for quite a while, Kumiko. I know most of you, I know how you reveal yourself and your emotions. It's not hard, really, if you spend enough time with someone, to figure out how they work." It was a clear day, sunny and cloudless, and Kumiko basked in the warmth of the sun as Reina held her hands and clasped them to her own chest. "Still, I find myself wondering what you _are_ thinking half the time." Reina looked down at the cracks between the pavement, the first indication that they were beginning to leave her neighborhood. "It's part of what draws me to you."

"Huh?"

"You pretend to keep your emotions up front, the good-girl façade laid on thick, but you really do tend to hold them far away from everyone else. It's fascinating, to say the least." Reina tilted her head again, dark hair cascading down her shoulders. "It's like I'm fumbling around in the dark, when I'm trying to understand you." Nobody was out here on a day like this, Kumiko noted, and that might have been the only thing that let her keep hold on some scrap of courage.

"Understand me, then," she breathed, stepping closer. Reina returned in kind, and Kumiko could smell the rosemary in her clothes, in her breath, in every corner of her in the middle of that sidewalk.

"That's what I've wanted to do all along." She was just about to close the gap when a loud voice broke the two apart.

" _Hey!_ Kumiko! Kousaka-san! Midori, look, it's them!" Hazuki bounded towards Kumiko with a skip in her step, seemingly unaware of what was actually happening, with Midori fast on her trail. Kumiko jumped away with a yelp, nearly pulling Reina down with her.

"H-Hazuki!" she stuttered. "What're you two, uh, d-doing here?" Reina seemed somewhat indifferent, looking up at the blue sky overhead.

"We were gonna go to the park!" Hazuki excitedly replied.

"There's no better place to observe the way music impacts the very soul of the people around us than to see them up close," Midori murmured, holding a hand to her heart.

"We could tag along, if you'd like," Reina said. "Would that be alright with you, Kumiko?"

"I guess?" Kumiko still didn't understand how neither Hazuki nor Midori hadn't noticed the fact that she had been scarcely an inch away from Reina just a few minutes ago, but she didn't question it.

"Great!" Hazuki set off in the direction of the park, humming under her breath as Midori idly strolled beside Reina.

"You know a lot about the trumpet, right?" she whispered reverently. Reina had to nearly bend down to look her in the eye - a fact that Midori didn't seem particularly bothered by.

"I suppose." Reina had let go of Kumiko's hand during the sudden interruption, and so Kumiko was forced to be a third wheel to her own girlfriend and one of her friends while Hazuki walked several paces ahead.

 _Great._

* * *

Midori continued to stare up at Reina with adoration in her eyes for the next twenty minutes as Kumiko (unsuccessfully) tried to join the conversation. Hazuki hadn't said anything, for once.

"When did you start playing the trumpet?" Midori squeaked.

"If I remember correctly, it was when I was about five. My father was - is - a famous trumpet player, so I suppose it was always somewhat of a fated encounter with the instrument. My parents placed one in my hands one day, and I just never let go of it." Reina nearly chuckled at the thought. Kumiko could see her hold a slender hand to her mouth. "I've gone a long way since then, though."

"I can tell! They talk about you in the bass section, you know!"

"They do?" Kumiko wildly gestured to Midori in the way only someone desperately wanting a person to stop talking could, but the smaller girl didn't notice. Either that, or she just didn't care.

"Yep! They say that you've got a real talent, that you'll make it further than any of us." Midori wistfully looked up, and it was only then when Kumiko realized that the sky had started to darken with clouds like grainy cotton candy floating along. "You have something important. Don't waste it." Reina took a deep breath.

"I-"

"It's raining!" Hazuki yelped, holding her bag over her head as a makeshift umbrella as the rain began to patter on the sidewalk.

"It isn't that bad," Kumiko interjected, and as if on cue, the light drizzle became a downpour.

"We should go somewhere indoors in case it gets worse," Reina said. Kumiko nodded in agreement, and the four ran for the nearest shop.

* * *

The nearest shop, as it turned out, was a small convenience store with not much to show for it aside from an aisle of off-brand cereal and a freezer full of plain-looking ice cream and popsicles.

"Well, there's not much else we can do, huh?" Hazuki sighed, taking three of the popsicles from the freezer with a nonchalance that made Kumiko wonder how often she had been here.

"That's only three!" Midori piped up. "Who's gonna get left out?" Hazuki smirked.

"Nobody," she said, in an unsettlingly devious voice. With a flourish, she shoved one of the popsicles in Kumiko and Reina's direction. "It's one of those couple-y ones that you split with someone! Neat, huh?" Kumiko could feel her heart speeding up at the word _couple._ The rain still patterned outside, almost a rhythm of its own, and a flash of lightning brightened the store for just a moment, but all she could see was Reina's face, a thousand thoughts and fears running through her mind, and she wondered if Reina would just leave right then and there, out into the storm.

"Thank you," Reina murmured, seemingly unaffected. Kumiko, meanwhile, felt like her intestines were being squeezed out of her.

 _Hazuki knows. Who else knows? Midori? What if one of them says something about it? What if something happens and Reina's parents hear about it?_ Reina split the popsicle in two and handed one half to Kumiko. _How is she being so calm about this?_ Kumiko blankly stared at the confection, her mind still spinning as Reina sat down on one of the empty shelves.

"Don't do that!" Hazuki yelped. With surprising strength, she pulled Reina off of the shelf and set her down. "That one's really rickety, you could've fallen or something!"

"How do you know so much about this place?" Midori inquired.

"I used to go here every day after school when I was younger! The shop owners sorta grew to know me after a while, but it's been a long time. I wonder if it's still the same people . . ." Hazuki began to wander through the aisles, popsicle in hand, and Midori followed her.

"H-hey, are you okay?" Kumiko whispered as soon as Hazuki and Midori were out of earshot. Reina nodded.

"They seem like trustworthy people, Kumiko. I don't think that they would do anything reckless."

"Are you sure?" Midori was trying her best to knock something off one of the higher shelves. "Y'know, we could, uh, go home or something, if you . . . want . . ." Kumiko trailed off as a clap of thunder shook the building.

"There's nothing to do but wait," Reina said, twirling the popsicle around in her hands. "If they bring it up again, then we'll say something. I don't think that it needs to be much more complicated than that."

"You're not w-worried?"

"Are _you?"_ Kumiko took a breath.

"I . . . I don't really know."

"They're your friends. Talk to them, if it's bothering you."

"It's not."

"You're tapping your foot. I can tell that you're concerned, Kumiko." Kumiko froze.

"W-what if they end up getting you hurt?" she murmured, peeling at a faded sticker on the shelf. "I can't let that happen to you, Reina, I just _can't."_

"That's what you're worried about, then?" Reina set down the popsicle and wrapped her hand around Kumiko's.

"Yeah."

"I'd die before letting anything like that happen." Kumiko let out a chuckle. "What?"

"You're cute when you're determined, y'know that?" Reina's lips quirked upwards into a smile.

"This certainly isn't the date I was expecting, when you said that you'd take care of the location this time."

"I wasn't, uh, expecting it either, to be honest." Another flash of lightning illuminated the store. "It could've been worse, though."

" _Hey,_ Kumiko! Kousaka-san! Look, it's the owner! These are my other two friends, they're really great!" Hazuki practically dragged an elderly man across the store to greet the two.

"It's nice to meet you, sir," Reina said. Kumiko awkwardly waved.

"Ah, are these two part of your windy-band?"

"Mm-hmm! Kumiko's a UFO player-"

"Euphonium."

"Yeah, that! Kousaka-san plays the trumpet, she managed to beat out one of the third-years for a solo in the competition."

"I guess I'll have to be on the lookout for you in big concerts in the future, then!" the shop owner chuckled, patting the two of them on the head. Kumiko instinctively stepped back. "Take care of Hazuki, alright? She's a good kid."

"Hazuki's really cool on her own!" Midori squeaked. "We don't need to take care of her! I dunno if we're really as much of a quartet as you think we are, sir, but the Kitauji High School concert band is sorta like one big family! We all take care of each other as much as we can, even when things get tough and people start snapping at each other." Kumiko gripped Reina's hand tightly, as if letting go would mean the end of the very world. "Music's a powerful tool, it would be a grave mistake to underestimate its potential."

"You're a wise one, eh? Intelligent beyond your years. I like you." Midori beamed. "Well, I'd better head back to the counter. It's tough, being the only person working here, but I wouldn't trade it for the world."

"Isn't he cool?" Hazuki whispered. Kumiko shrugged. She had kept her hold on Reina's hand for the entire conversation, fingers intertwining, but nobody had given her a second glance, and for that, at least, she was grateful beyond words. Reina smiled softly, picking up her popsicle again.

"The storm looks like it's letting up," she said. "We should head outside, it would be disrespectful to loiter in here if we have no reason to."

"Yeah."

* * *

It was strangely relaxing, Kumiko thought, to sit there with the girl she loved in the end-of-rain air beneath the shop's cover as her friends chatted away, counting cars and discussing the future of the band. Reina sat in comfortable silence, watching the clouds as she held onto Kumiko's hand.

"It's actually really nice out here," Hazuki sighed contentedly. "Don't you think so, Midori?"

"Yeah! There's something in the air that makes it seem nearly magical."

"I suppose there is," Reina murmured. Kumiko leaned against her shoulder, fiddling with the popsicle stick as she quickly kissed her on the cheek.

"This wasn't such a bad date after all, huh?"

"Not in the slightest, Kumiko." Hazuki nearly tripped on her own two feet, mouth agape.

"Wait, you two were on a _date?!_ Kumiko, we didn't interrupt your date, right? Right?" Kumiko chuckled, hoping that the rain would hide the tears poking at the corners of her eyes.

"No, Hazuki," she said. "You d-didn't interrupt anything."

"Well, that's a relief! I'd hate to do anything like that!" Hazuki tossed the remainder of her popsicle into the trash. Reina laughed lightly, her eyes sparkling against the sun that had started to peek out from the clouds. "Kousaka-san?"

"The weather is lovely," she sighed. "Kumiko? Are you ready to leave?"

"Yeah." Kumiko waved once to Hazuki and Midori, the unspoken 'thank you' clear between them. "Yeah, I think I'm r-ready to leave."


End file.
